Bush’s Free Ride
I’m always wary of these “Correspondents’ dinners” in Washington D.C. where the press and the President cozy up to each other at the risk of trivializing very serious matters. Case in point - Bush got in trouble for a tasteless slideshow at one of these dinners in 2004, where he joked about not finding weapons of mass destruction.
Today, American troops are dying in a questionable “war” in Iraq and George W. Bush has shown a widespread disregard for the Constitution according to this Boston Globe article:
President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution.
So in the latest White House Correspondents’ Dinner, the press was fawning over the “twin” routine Bush performed with impersonator Steve Bridges (see NY Times, Reuters), while widely ignoring the scathing 20 minute speech by featured speaker Stephen Colbert (see Media Matters). Interestingly, FOX News’ Steve Doocy was one of the few outlets that acknowledged that Bush, “was nothing but a punching bag,” for Colbert.
The best roundup of this is from Dan Froomkin of the Washington Post, where he dissects what is being said around the blogosphere. The best headline was from blogger Peter Daou: “Ignoring Colbert: A Small Taste of the Media’s Power to Choose the News.”
You don’t have to believe in conspiracy theories to see that Colbert’s routine was widely played down, or downright ignored, by mainstream media outlets (NY Times, Reuters, CNN). Just because the U.S. has press freedom, doesn’t mean you’re freely given the whole picture.
